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Story by Liz Alper
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
December 21, 2017 (San Diego) - After 12 days, Aztecs men’s basketball was back in action in a big way; the defending national champion Gonzaga Bulldogs came to town. This year, however, the Zags are ranked 12th.
SDSU held the upper hand on the Zags for much of the first half until under five minutes left when the Bulldogs hit two big threes to pull within three. Both teams enjoyed a scoring drought for three minutes with the Aztecs desperately trying to hold on to their lead. They did, but only by two, going to the locker room up 25-23 after being up by 10 with nine minutes left.
A gridlocked second half followed. Despite a big three at the beginning of the half by junior guard Jeremy Hemsley, redshirt junior guard Josh Perkins countered with a three of his own for the Zags, but luckily for the Aztecs, Gonzaga couldn’t get that tying bucket and when a blocking foul was called on Gonzaga, the Aztecs saw their chance and broke free, but Gonzaga stayed close behind and the game remained at 35-34 Aztecs for quite some time. The Aztecs tried to break away again and were much more successful with the help of redshirt freshman Jalen McDaniels. Gonzaga hung around for the rest of the half, but the Aztecs stayed out in front thanks to senior guard Trey Kell coming in clutch. The Aztecs handed Gonzaga their first road loss since February 13, 2016 with a dirty 72-70 win over the defending national champions.
The Aztecs get to enjoy Christmas before beginning conference play in Wyoming on December 27th. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.
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